Newfoundland seeks beef cattle breeder

Five breeding cows available for five-year term

The Newfoundland and Labrador government’s plan to build up cattle breeding within the province is advancing a step as the province seeks a farmer to mind a small Hereford herd.

The province on Tuesday put out a call for proposals from farmers to take on a five-year contract handling a herd of five breeding cows for “research and development purposes.”

The request seeks proposals from “existing commercial farmers or new farmers who have had past experience in raising beef cattle (and) who would like to help advance the genetic diversity of the beef industry in Newfoundland and Labrador.”

The deadline for proposals is 4:30 p.m. on Aug. 23.

Rising beef prices have boosted interest in the beef cattle industry in the province, the government said in a release.

The province said it hopes to “expand the level of breeding available so that there is less need for producers to acquire superior-quality, purebred beef cattle from outside the province.”

Bringing in purebreds “will eventually allow producers to look within the local industry to acquire breeding stock and to produce quality beef without the additional high costs of transportation from outside the province.”

The province’s fisheries and land resources department, which oversees support for the ag sector, last year partnered with a Daniel’s Harbour dairy farm to raise five beef cattle.

“Initial assessments of the growth and health of this herd at Spruce Grove Dairy Farm have been positive to date,” the province said Tuesday.

Spruce Grove Dairy Farm’s Shawn Perry said Tuesday the project has “resulted in significant growth and development in our operation” and that “as opportunities to improve the genetics of provincial beef herds arise, this will be a game changer for the beef industry.”

Newfoundland and Labrador Federation of Agriculture president Mervin Wiseman said the move “represents a significant building block in the establishment of a viable beef industry for the province.” — AGCanada.com Network

Who wants to raise Hereford cattle in Newfoundland not everyone. We the Customer recommend Angus Beef pays top dollar more so than Hereford . We recommend new farmers a beef cow with lots of milk and great beef Pinzgauer is a wise choice and a very good breed very docile for starter farmers. Also Black Angus Number 1 beef breed in the world and pays top dollar at all sales. Why not Black Baldy Herfer cross beef better cattle is even a better breed. For us to gain local interest there must be changes made on this island. We need to get in the local grocery stores and the food service industry supply local markets with beef. We need to have Full time slaughtering facilities available fully staff to maintain at all times for a slaughtering of beef , Meat processing plants for the finish product of our beef. We need to give the local markets incentive in buying local beef tax breaks. If they refuse to buy local meat taxed them to death in the meat departments. Our restaurants,hotels. grocery stores,food chain and all franchises should be encouraged to buy local. Also when the Government is going to give these cows What monitoring procedures of these animals that are going to put in place. The animals can die due to not proper grazing or suspicious disappearing ,Cattle rustling, Predator Attacks, or the farmer is the guilty one. How will they police that ?? Not all farmer are honest some are crooks and are not honest.